Physician noted lead actor's painful joint inflammation might make it last longer (7)

'make it last longer' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'physician noted lead actor's painful joint inflammation' is the wordplay.
'physician' becomes 'Dr' (synonyms).
'noted lead actor' becomes 'a' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'painful joint inflammation' becomes 'gout' (I've seen this in another clue).
'dr'+'a'+'gout'='DRAGOUT'

'might' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?